No Way Out (2012)

No Way Out (2012)
Promotional poster featuring AJ Lee and Daniel Bryan
Tagline(s)	WWE has No Way Out
Theme song(s)	"Unstoppable" by Charm City Devils[1]
Information
Promotion	WWE
Date	June 17, 2012
Attendance	10,000[2]
Venue	Izod Center
City	East Rutherford, New Jersey
Pay-per-view chronology
Over the Limit (2012) No Way Out (2012) Money in the Bank (2012)
No Way Out chronology
No Way Out (2009) No Way Out (2012) Final

No Way Out (2012) (also known as No Escape (2012) in Germany)^[3] was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the WWE promotion, which took place on June 17, 2012 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The show was the twelfth No Way Out event and the first one since 2009. Nine matches were on the card. The event received 194,000 buys, up from last year's Capitol Punishment pay-per-view of 170,000.^[4]

Background

No Way Out featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines which are played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The main event of the pay-per-view involves John Cena and Big Show. On the May 14 edition of Raw, the general manager of Raw and SmackDown John Laurinaitis fired Big Show for making fun of his voice. At Over the Limit, just before John Cena would defeat Laurinaitis, Big Show used his Knockout Punch and knocked out Cena, allowing Laurinaitis to pin Cena. The next night on Raw, Laurinaitis revealed that he gave Big Show back his job, complete with an ironclad contract with a bonus on the condition that he would take out Cena as Show was outside the influence of the no interference stipulation for the match. Show stated that he only helped Laurinaitis when he didn't receive any sympathy from the other Superstars, and because of his ironclad contract, started attacking those Superstars. Laurinaitis would soon book a match between Cena and Big Show inside a steel cage for the pay-per-view. On the June 11 edition of Raw, Mr. McMahon returned to evaluate John Laurinaitis' job, but was interrupted by the Big Show, at which point Mr. McMahon announced that if Big Show loses, Laurinaitis would be fired, at which point the Big Show knocked out Mr. McMahon after Cena ducked. On the June 15 episode of SmackDown, Laurinaitis announced the stipulation if Cena loses, he would be fired, at which point Cena knocked Laurinaitis out.

The main event of SmackDown was originally Sheamus defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio. Following a successful title defense by Sheamus against Del Rio, Randy Orton and Chris Jericho at Over the Limit, Del Rio, Orton and Kane competed in a Triple Threat match on the May 25 edition of SmackDown to earn a match against Sheamus for his title. Del Rio successfully pinned Kane to score a match against Sheamus at No Way Out. Del Rio was pulled from the match following a concussion during the June 8 episode of SmackDown.^[5] On the June 11 edition of Raw, Dolph Ziggler defeated Christian, Jack Swagger and The Great Khali in a Fatal-Four Way Elimination match to become the new number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.

The main event of Raw involved the WWE Champion CM Punk defending his title in a Triple Threat match against Daniel Bryan and Kane. On the May 18 edition of SmackDown, Punk was put in a match against Kane, where Bryan was in commentary observing the match. Bryan would run interference by attacking Kane with a steel chair and making it look like Punk did it, causing Kane to attack Punk. On the May 21 edition of Raw, Bryan, who demanded a rematch due to Punk tapping out moments after scoring the pin during their WWE Championship match at Over the Limit, was facing off against Kane, set up by Punk in which the situation nearly reversed itself. Afterwards, Kane would start attacking both indiscriminately after being a pawn in each of their plans. On the June 1 episode of SmackDown, which involved Punk defending the WWE Championship against Kane, Bryan would interfere in the match, attacking both once more, only for Kane to chokeslam both Bryan and Punk. Afterwards, John Laurinaitis came out to announce a Triple Threat match involving Punk, Bryan and Kane.

Event

Pre-show

The pre-show featured Brodus Clay beating David Otunga by counting him out.

Preliminary matches

The first match of the night was Sheamus retaining the World Heavyweight Championship against Dolph Ziggler.

Santino Marella defeated Ricardo Rodriguez via the Cobra in a Tuxedo Match, where the first one take off the other's suit wins the match.

Christian then beat Cody Rhodes in a rematch from Over the Limit to retain the Intercontinental Championship.

The Prime Time Players defeated Primo & Epico, The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso), and Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel in a Fatal Four-way tag team match to determine the number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship.

Triple H then returned to challenge Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.

Layla then defeated Beth Phoenix in a Diva's Championship bout.

Sin Cara then defeated Hunico.

Main event matches

CM Punk then defeated Kane and Daniel Bryan in a Triple Threat WWE Championship bout to retain the title after interference from AJ Lee.

Ryback then defeated Dan Delaney and Rob Grymes in a 2-on-1 Handicap match.

The last match of the pay-per-view was John Cena (with Mr. McMahon) vs. Big Show (with John Laurinaitis) in a Steel Cage Match. The stipulation of the match was that if Big Show won, Laurinaitis would fire Cena, but if Cena won, McMahon would fire Laurinaitis. The match was dominated by Big Show in the early going. Cena nearly escaped multiple times, but was stopped by Big Show. Cena almost escaped through the door, but this time was foiled by Laurinaitis even after Mr. McMahon tried to intervene, knocking out the outside referee in the process. Show then chokeslammed Cena, but Cena kicked out. Show then inadvertently knocked out the inside referee with a Knockout Punch that was intended for Cena, who ducked. Show then knocked out Cena as well. Show attempted to walk out the door, but was stopped by Brodus Clay, wielding a steel chair. Show then attempted to climb out over the top, but numerous superstars from Zack Ryder to Kofi Kingston came out to try to knock Show off the top of the cage. Kingston finally succeeded in this, temporarily stunning Show. Cena came to and tried to capitalize by crawling out the door, but Show stopped him at the last second. Cena then hit Show with a surprise Attitude Adjustment and climbed to the top of the cage, but was stopped by Laurinaitis, flailing his crutches at him. Clay came over and subdued Laurinaitis long enough to allow Cena to climb over the top before Show could crawl out the door. McMahon then fired Laurinaitis and Cena wasted no time giving Laurinaitis an Attitude Adjustment through the Spanish Announce Table.

Results

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times
1^P	Brodus Clay (with Naomi and Cameron) defeated David Otunga by countout	Singles match[6]	05:43[7]
2	Sheamus (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero)	Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship	15:10[7]
3	Santino Marella defeated Ricardo Rodriguez	Tuxedo match	04:25[7]
4	Christian (c) defeated Cody Rhodes	Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship	11:30[7]
5	The Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil and Darren Young) (with A.W.) defeated Primo & Epico (with Rosa Mendes), The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso), and Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel	Fatal Four-way tag team match to determine the number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship[8]	09:30[7]
6	Layla (c) defeated Beth Phoenix	Singles match for the WWE Divas Championship	06:57[7]
7	Sin Cara defeated Hunico	Singles match	05:48[7]
8	CM Punk (c) defeated Daniel Bryan and Kane	Triple threat match for the WWE Championship[9]	18:17[7]
9	Ryback defeated Dan Delaney and Rob Grymes	2-on-1 Handicap match	01:38[7]
10	John Cena (with Vince McMahon) defeated Big Show (with John Laurinaitis) by escaping the cage	Steel cage match; Since Cena won, Laurinaitis was fired. Had Big Show won, Cena would have been fired.[10]	19:24[7]
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match P – indicates the match took place on the pre-show

References

1. WWE Music Group Tweet on Twitter
2. "Attendance for 6/18 No Way Out PPV in New Jersey". Wrestleview.com. 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2012-06-22.
3. Caldwell, James (2012-05-26). "Next WWE PPV given different title int'lly". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
4. "WWE Reports 2012 Second Quarter Results" (PDF) (Press release). WWE. August 2, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
5. "Concussion wipes out Alberto Del Rio for No Way Out". WWE. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
6. Murphy, Ryan (June 17, 2012). "Brodus Clay def. David Otunga". WWE. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
7. Caldwell, James (2012-06-17). "PWTorch.com - CALDWELL'S WWE NO WAY OUT PPV REPORT 6/17: Ongoing 'virtual time' coverage of live PPV - Cena vs. Show, potential 'firings,' who will A.J. choose?". pwtorch.com. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
8. Medalis, Kara A. (June 17, 2012). "The Prime Time Players won a Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match". WWE. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
9. "WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane – Triple Threat Match". WWE. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
10. "John Cena vs. Big Show – Steel Cage Match". WWE. Retrieved 2012-05-12.

External links

• Official No Way Out website